


How Will You Live Under the Sun?

by katayla



Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery
Genre: F/M, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-16
Updated: 2014-12-16
Packaged: 2018-03-01 19:17:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2784641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katayla/pseuds/katayla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the war, Shirley and Una are drawn together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How Will You Live Under the Sun?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fluffybun](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fluffybun/gifts).



> Thank you to my betas and to nonnie for the title!

1.

Shirley slipped down to Rainbow Valley the night he came home. The supper had been full of his favorite foods, but it was long and loud, and he was weary of being the center of attention. In Rainbow Valley, the late sun shone down on him, and the trees welcomed him home.

He'd flown over so many would-be Rainbow Valleys in the war. He'd seen clusters of trees and wondered about the children who played in them. Had once played in them. When you flew above the crowd, you could almost, almost let yourself imagine the children playing there still, that the nooks and valleys were filled with laughter instead of the screams of war.

But Rainbow Valley, oh Rainbow Valley. It was clean and pure and Shirley felt a bit of himself return as he stretched out on the grass. He hadn't lost himself at war, but he'd tucked his inner self away, and, now, he could feel that inner self peaking out, checking to see if it was safe, and slowly emerging.

After a while, Shirley heard the soft sound of footsteps. And then he heard them stop and retreat. He sat up and saw Una Meredith walking away.

"Don't go," he said.

Una turned, but didn't come closer. "I thought you might wish to be alone."

It was why he came to Rainbow Valley, but Una had always understood silence and, all of a sudden, Shirley desperately wanted the comfort of another human being, one who understood that sometimes there wasn't anything to say.

And Una, perhaps, understood that feeling, too. She came and sat next to him. She smiled a little at him, but didn't say a word.

And so they lay on the grass together and watched the stars come out over Rainbow Valley.

2.

Una hadn't expected to be lonely at Redmond. Everyone else was making plans for the future, so she had came up with one for herself. But her Domestic Science classes made her think of the home she would never have now, the lost dream she should never have dared to dream. The girls in her classes were friendly, but Una had never quite mastered the art of friendship on her own. She'd always had Faith to guide her way.

"Maybe it was a mistake to come," Una thought to herself, as she left class one Tuesday. She could go home and help Rilla plan her wedding. And there would be babies soon enough, wouldn't there? She loved babies. She wished--

Una shook her head. She walked by the boys' boarding house and met Shirley coming down the path.

"Hello, Una," he said, and fell into step with her.

One of the boys often walked Una home. They worried about her, she thought. And these brave boys, her brothers and friends, if they could forge a life for themselves after the war, could she do any less?

Shirley glanced at her from time to time and, if he had been one of the other boys, perhaps he would've asked what she was wrong. And, if someone had asked, she wouldn't have known what to say. She could not claim any grief but that of a friend. Hadn't lost anything except a dream.

When they reached Una's boarding house, Shirley squeezed her hand in farewell and it meant more than all the words he could've given her.

3.

"Who'd have thought the Spider would be married first?," Shirley thought, as he walked through the Ingleside gardens. Yet Rilla and Ken wouldn't beat the others by much. Jerry and Nan, Faith and Jem, so many childhood chums pairing off.

"And some of us left alone," he murmured, as he caught sight of Una staring wistfully at Ken and Rilla dancing together.

He didn't think Una would go back to Redmond. He hoped she would not. She had been unhappy there.

Shirley wasn't entirely sure he was happy there himself. College seemed like something from the past, from a world without war. And he found himself staring out windows for a glimpse of the sky. He wished he could go back up there, but hadn't Susan and his mother been through enough worry? They would not enjoy the thought of a life spent in aeroplanes.

So Redmond, it was. Shirley took a seat next to Una and she smiled in greeting. "They look so happy," she said.

Maybe he'd misread the sadness in her eyes then. But then he thought he saw it flash across her face once more. Then she sat up straighter and shook her head.

"We have to keep faith," Una said. "We have to fight for our happiness."

Shirley's eyes lifted to the skies and he thought again of aeroplanes.

4.

"I am leaving," Shirley said, abruptly.

Una started in surprise. She and Shirley were walking in Rainbow Valley. They'd met here often in the summer days following Rilla and Ken's wedding, usually on accident. Today, Shirley has asked her to meet him there.

"To Redmond, you mean?" Una asked. But the start of classes was a month away.

He shook his head. "A friend from the war told me of an opportunity. He takes passengers up in his aeroplane. I could fly again, Una."

She smiled. "That sounds wonderful, Shirley."

His face lit up, as he explained about the many people interested in flight who would pay for a quick trip in the sky.

"But I am not sure what to tell the family," Shirley said. "I don't wish to worry them."

Una sighed. "I think the war has made us permanently worried. Whenever someone I love is out of sight, I fear what could happen to them."

"Will you worry about me?" Shirley asked.

"Yes," Una said. "But I will be glad to know you're doing what will make you happy."

Shirley paused. "And you, Una? What will make you happy?"

Una didn't answer right away. They came up to the spring and sat next to it. Una trailed her fingers in the water. "Rainbow Valley makes me happy. Family. My friends."

"Is that enough?"

Una brought her hand out of the water. "Sometimes. Most of the time. I don't--think I want much more for the present."

Shirley nodded and said no more.

5.

Rilla had never walked so slowly to Rainbow Valley. But then she had never taken such a precious bundle to it before.

"You will love it here," she whispered to baby Gilbert. She and Ken had arrived at Ingleside this morning and, after everyone had held the baby and cooed over him, Rilla had wrapped him up and brought him outside. 

"Before too long, you'll have cousins to play with," Rilla said. "And Rainbow Valley will be yours."

But perhaps the previous generation hadn't quite given it up. Rilla could hear soft voices floating towards her and she cuddled Gilbert more closely to her, making sure he was too content to make a sound.

Through the trees, she caught a glimpse of Shirley and Una, heads bent closely together.

Rilla smiled, and turned around. When she was far enough away that she was sure she couldn't be heard, she lifted Gilbert up to her.

"Yes, I believe you will have _plenty_ of cousins to play with."


End file.
